PPL Charity Gala 2018

£93.4 MILLION AWARDED TO CHARITIES IN 2017 BY PLAYERS OF PEOPLE'S POSTCODE LOTTERY

Magic Breakfast able to provide over 849,200 healthy breakfasts to children in disadvantaged areas of the UK thanks to funding awarded by players in 2017

Magic Breakfast is delighted to have attended the 2018 People’s Postcode Lottery annual Charity Gala where it was announced that £93.4 million was awarded to charities and good causes in 2017 – thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

Magic Breakfast received an incredible £375,000 in 2017 which allowed the charity to provide over 849,200 healthy breakfasts to more than 4,300 children in 65 schools as essential fuel for learning.

Independent research, published in November 2016, funded by the Education Endowment Foundation and Department for Education, and carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, found that primary schools that offered a free and nutritious Magic Breakfast boosted their pupils’ reading, writing and maths results by as much as two months’ progress over the course of a year.

The Gala was a celebration of the phenomenal achievements of charities working across Great Britain and internationally that are supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. The lottery also took the opportunity to announce an increase to 32% of each ticket sale going directly to good causes. The news of the funding total and increase was shared at the annual event, on Tuesday 23rd January, at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

The event was attended by Actor Emma Thompson, broadcaster Dermot Murnaghan and TV presenter Fiona Phillips. Entertainment on the night was provided by Heather Small.

Tom Halliley, Senior Corporate Partnerships Manager at Magic Breakfast, who attended the Gala, said: “We are forever thankful to players of People’s Postcode Lottery whose support in 2017 enabled us to provide over 849,200 healthy breakfasts to schoolchildren who would otherwise have been too hungry to learn. Thank you for helping us to break down the barrier to education that hunger presents in so many UK schools”.

-ENDS-

NOTES TO EDITORS

People’s Postcode Lottery

• People's Postcode Lottery manages multiple charity lotteries (also known as society lotteries). Players play with their postcodes to win cash prizes, while raising money for charities and good causes across Great Britain and globally

• A minimum of 31% goes directly to charities and players have raised £263 million to date for good causes across the country

• £10 for 10 draws paid monthly in advance with prizes every day. For further prize information visit: www.postcodelottery.co.uk/prizes

• Maximum amount a single ticket can win is 10% of the draw revenue to a maximum of £400,000

• Players can sign up by Direct Debit online at www.postcodelottery.co.uk, or by calling 0808 10-9-8-7-6-5

• For details on which society lottery is running each week, visit www.postcodelottery.co.uk/society

Magic Breakfast

· Magic Breakfast is a registered charity (number: 1102510) providing healthy breakfasts to more than 31,500 UK children every school day as essential fuel for learning.

· The charity works with schools where over 35% of children are eligible for Free School Meals, or with Ever 6 FSM, helping them to establish breakfast provision that targets every vulnerable child. A hungry child cannot concentrate and will miss out on the most important lessons, taught in the morning, if not given anything to eat.

Magic Breakfast's head office is in London (our office space is kindly lent to us by Pearson), but our School Partners are located all over England and Scotland so they can be close to the schools they work with.

Magic Breakfast not only provides food aid to schools, but has an expert team to help identify and reach every hungry pupil, offer nutrition advice and training, give parents nutrition and food hygiene training, and advise on post-breakfast activities such as book clubs and exercise sessions.

Magic Breakfast was founded by Carmel McConnell, MBE, in 2003, but she started buying and delivering breakfasts to five schools in the London borough of Hackney three years previously after hearing from headteachers there that many of their pupils couldn't concentrate until they had had their lunch as they were too hungry.